Better Social Media For Your Business Now

Yesterday, we posted a roundup on news about small business social media. It's among the hottest topics in entrepreneurial circles these days and here at Small Business Trends too. But what might be more important are ideas about how you can improve your social media efforts to make your small business marketing stand out from the crowd. Here's how to get started.

Tips

Give your Facebook fanpage a boost. By now, everyone knows the power of the Facebook fanpage to generate inceased traffic and interest for your brand and your small business Website. Here Steve Chou shares some data on the value of Facebook fanpages in your marketing efforts then provides information and a tutorial video on how to increase engagement with your Facebook presence especially applicable to e-commerce sites. MyWifeQuitHerJob.com

Make your blog the destination it should be. Before using social media like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to promote your Web presence, Stephanie Suesan Smith has these suggestions for the top five things your blog or other Web site must have to make it the kind of destination people want to visit. Information Central

Trends

Don't stop at the big 3. In this case, we're talking about Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, of course, but the fact is there are other big social media sites on the rise. However, besides the latest trendy bohemoth, you may also want to consider those smaller specialty networks that cater to your specific industry. Is it marketing or networking you want? Are you seeking b2b or more standard customer relationships. All will play a part in the social media sites you choose. Brick Marketing Blog

It's time to check out check-in sites. This week check-in community Foursquare reported exceeding 10 million users. What does this mean for your social media campaign efforts? Plenty, if you haven't yet engaged this huge, growing and passionate audience. Whether you have a brick amd mortar location or not, have you engaged with your local Foursquare community? If not, isn't it time you did? Los Angeles Times

How To

How to get more social on YouTube. Yes, video has great Search Engine Optimization value when trying to generate increased organic traffic from the search engines, but don't forget that YouTube is, first and foremost perhaps, a social community. Here are some brilliant suggestions to increase your social curency in the video sharing space. Sean Supplee

How to listen to your Linkedin network. Fred Caballero shares two important ways you can use LinkedIn to learn more about and from people in your network. Read the post and watch the video. You'll see that some of the greatest value you can get out of this social media network may not be what you share but what you learn by listening. Channelship

Building Authority

Taking advantage of the LinkedIn, Klout collaboration. The world's of LinkedIn and Klout are coming together it seems with obvious benefits to users of both. But how can you make this new social media collaboration work to your advantage today? Peter Masters shares an overview of what this new partnership really means for social users. The Marketing M8 Blog

Influence wars heat up. Measuring your social influence could be an important aspect in social marketing and branding in the near future, if it isn't already. But establishing the "gold standard" in this emerging field could be difficult. At least two huge contenders are in the running to provide a measurement of social worth and there are undoutedly more waiting in the wings. TechCrunch

Case Study

Interaction is the name of the game. Even larger businesses that once avoided the potential dangers posed by social media, now embrace the technology which gives "digital extroverts" a role in the marketing process and encourages customers to have a voice. The approach not only can generate greater buzz than traditional marketing but can also provite better customer feedback to improve products and service. New York Times

Conclusion

Stop advertising! Yes, we know your social media campaign is about drawing attention to your business, but you don't have to be an informercial on this subject. Posting with constant, never-ending sales pitches for your products and requests for friends to sign up for offers won't endear people to your social media presence. There is a right way and a wrong way to promote what you're doing. Sharing is the key. Marcana